


What Makes a Monster

by AbsinthexMind



Series: Oh brother where art thou [23]
Category: Van Helsing (2004)
Genre: Brother/Sister Incest, Catholic Guilt, Doubt, Dubious Morality, F/M, Forbidden Love, Incest, Love, Sibling Incest, Suspicions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2018-07-25
Packaged: 2019-06-14 05:59:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15382212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AbsinthexMind/pseuds/AbsinthexMind
Summary: You didn't like the way the cardinals would look at you when you would come back to the Vatcan after months of hunting down monsters. It's like they knew something. A sinful secret.





	What Makes a Monster

You whistled out a soft tune; luring them to you. They must’ve thought that they were the hunters. Wrong. Dead wrong. (y/n) Van Helsing was not prey. You were a hunter. The predator. Your older brother taught you better than to be a meek sheep. Just like him, you hunted creatures that went bump in the night. Creatures that the Vatican deemed were risen from the bowels of hell. Only you and your brother had been brave enough to go after these hellish monsters. You couldn’t remember your life before you hunted monsters; neither could your brother Gabriel. All you have ever had were each other. 

The scratching of talons along the ground alert you to what you had been tracking. 

Allowing a swift breath to seep past your lips and into your lungs, you cock your gun ever so slowly and pivot on your heel.  
  
  
  
*  
  
  
  


Rome’s bright sun blared down on your back making small beads of sweat rise up on your skin. You push your hood off and wipe at your forehead. Boots thudding against the ancient stone steps of St. Peter’s Basilica; a place that you had learned to call your home. At least it was the closest thing to a home you would ever have. The Knights of the Holy Order provided you and your brother a place to sleep and food to eat. That is when you were there and not traveling the world, killing monsters and exorcising ghosts and demons. You admit that you did feel a sense of relief whenever you set your gaze on the domed cathedral. It meant rest for your body, mind, and soul. And it meant that you’d be able to see your brother again. Sometimes the two of you would go months without seeing each other. A separation that nearly felt unbearable to you yet you knew it was for the greater good. You could cover more ground if the two of you hunted separately. Not seeing your only family for such a long time. . . 

It made you pick up speed and quicken your steps. Your footfalls sounded like thunder as you nearly ran to the confessionals; the smell of sweet incense clinging to your coat. 

You could hear the cardinal on the other side of you jump in his own box at your fervent entrance. 

Taking your index and middle finger you start at your forehead, making the sign of the cross. 

“Have you anything to confess like your brother, young Van Helsing?” Seems like your brother had already arrived. 

“Not this time, Cardinal Jinette.” You reply with a coy smile. 

He chuckles softly as you hear a faint rumbling behind you. You stand in the cramped confessional and duck your head a little so you could pass through the secret door that had just been opened. Red cardinal robes so bright even in the dark. “It’s good to see that you have come back in one piece.” 

“And my brother?” 

Cardinal Jinette’s smile falls and he groans. “No amount of prayers can save that one.” 

You laugh. “Come now. Don’t give up faith now! He is only doing his job.” 

“Recklessly.” He grumbles and slowly leads you down the dimly lit staircase that lead down into the Vatican’s underbelly. You were confident that if you were blindfolded that you could easily walk down each step without fumbling. They were as familiar to you as the back of your hand. 

“You try hunting demons. It’s not as easy as riding someone of spiritual demons.” 

Shaking his head the cardinal’s form bobs in front of you as he carefully takes each step down one by one. “Spiritual demons, I’m afraid, are far worse Miss Van Helsing. You can kill a physical demon. The ones in the mind are a lot tougher.” The way he looks at you makes your feel a little self conscious. As if. . . 

Biting down on your lip you don’t say anything else. 

Blinking lights of a multitude of burning candles brings your attention back to the hideout of the Holy Order. Priests and other holy men alike were working on new weapons as well as other plans to combat the forces of evil. 

Curiously you look at the various projects, all the strewn papers and other mechanical devices that littered the tables. 

“Did you remember to bring it?” Cardinal Jinette asks before letting you advance further. 

With ease you flip open your satchel. “Don’t know what you plan on doing with it, but here you go.” 

He peers into the bag, expecting you to pull it out yourself. 

“I’m not going to touch it again. It’s blood stains.” 

The cardinal calls for someone to take the bag from you, appearing a little bit pale in his complexion once the severed head of some horrid monster is retrieved out of your bag and taken away. 

“Now where is my-” 

“(y/n)!” 

You whirl around with a wide grin. You’d know that voice from anywhere. “Gabriel!” 

Gabriel Van Helsing wasn’t a man accustomed to smiling often. A serious, brooding, giant of a man who towered over you and any other man who was set before him. Face hardened from years of hunting unholy monsters. He was a wanted man in many countries; deemed a murderer from those who didn’t know about the real evils of the world. Imposing as he was, he always smiled brightly to see you alive and well. Something that all the others in the Holy Order were still not used to. You were the one who smiled easily. You could very well be serious and brooding one moment but it was fairly easy to make you laugh. 

You stopped yourself from running to him, still unnerved by Cardinal Jinette’s knowing look. A look that spoke legions of secrets. Coming up short in front of Gabriel, you beam brightly up at his rugged face. His hair had grown incredibly long since the last time you saw him. Your fingers reach up to brush against a curl. Gabriel’s smile widens at the merest touch. When he realized there were others watching his gaze turns hard sending the others away. 

Chuckling quietly you give a lock a playful tug making him wince slightly. “It’s good to see you Gabriel. Remind me, how long has it been?” 

“As if you haven’t been counting.” Incredibly dark eyes regard you with deep adoration. It felt heavy on you making your insides flutter and warm. 

“Lets go. We deserve a rest from sending creatures back to hell.” You muse. 

Gabriel grunts and places a hand on your shoulder. “A well earned rest for all the work we do.” Such a strong hand that has killed many monsters; yet it’s so incredibly gentle with you. 

Sometimes. . .  
  
  
  
  
  


You admire the small bruises on your body as well as the bites on your neck. Normally you revel in it more but the cardinal haunted you. Face growing numb you lean back against your headboard and turn to look at your brother, fast asleep. His long wealth of hair sprawled on his pillow. You delicately trace the arch of his upper lip; trying not to giggle at the vivid bite mark that was as clear as day on his plump bottom lip. You hadn’t meant to bite down so hard. The longer the two of you haven’t seen each other the more rough you are. Passion and longing take hold of you, fogging your brain until nothing else mattered except for Gabriel. You just couldn’t get close enough to him. Even bare skin on skin wasn’t enough for you. 

Disgust bubbled inside of you. 

It was disgust in Cardinal Jinette’s eyes. He knew the depths of your depravity. How, you didn’t know. You were sure the Vatican was filled with many eyes and ears. Maybe there were a pair of eyes that had watched you and Gabriel just moments ago. 

Goosebumps rose on your arms at the thought of someone peeping on you during a very intimate moment. Maybe even still watching your blasphemy unfold. They probably thought you and your brother worse than any unholy monster you had killed. 

You had always been emotionally tough, but knowing that what you were doing with your brother was considered wrong by the church devastated you. Choking up a bit you can’t even bare to look at him, the way he looked so at peace, so relaxed. No one else got to see Gabriel like that. So utterly vulnerable. If his enemies were to see him like this they’d take advantage of it. When he looked like that it made you want to protect him. This big man that could break anyone’s neck. A man who would look the devil in the face and kick him in the balls while laughing. 

“What’s wrong?” His voice whispers without even opening his eyes. 

Bringing your knees to your chest you feel the burn of the rosary at your bedside. Even the sheets under your body felt like they were on fire. Like you were already damned to hell. “They know.” 

He shifts onto his side to face you, his eyes still closed and none too pleased that something was bothering you. The skin between his brows were scrunched in agitation. “Who knows what?” 

“Don’t play dumb Gabriel.” Muttering you place your forehead against your knees, hiding your face in the process. You solemnly trace a long scar that started from behind your knee and wrapped around to the front of your shin. Even the pain of that wound had been less than what you were feeling now. You wanted to laugh at yourself. You felt so pitiful at that moment. One of the world’s most renowned monster hunters bested by your own emotions. Even worse was that your emotions that caused such an internal turmoil were for your brother. 

You feel Gabriel shift in bed, presumably to sit up. You knew the one thing Gabriel would’ve appreciated most at that moment was to sleep. Both of you were always exhausted when you returned to the Vatican. When you went out to hunt monsters it was hard catching some shut eye. Sleeping promoted vulnerability. Especially when you were hunting down the likes of incubi and succubi. 

“They don’t know. They only speculate.” Gabriel rubs at his eyes. 

“They know. These holy men have eyes and ears everywhere.” A large, callused hand goes to roam the naked plane of your back. The warmth from his palm spreads throughout your skin. “Those cardinals sniff out secrets like pigs sniffing out truffles.” 

A low chuckle rumbles from him. “Look at me (y/n).” 

You muffle out a protest which prompts Gabriel to grab hold of your face and gently turn your head in his direction. “Right now they’re the least of our worries.” 

“But-” 

His thumb brushes over your bottom lip in a soothing manner that had you melting against his palm. 

“As long as we do our jobs they can’t tell us anything. Do you really think they’d get rid of us because of this?” 

“Well this is the Vatican, the home to one of the most holiest men in the world. The supreme pontiff, the hand of God. They don’t look kindly to incest.” Trying to reason with your stubborn brother you feel like it’s useless. As someone as devoted to the Knights of the Holy Order, when it came to you Gabriel was always willing to oversee consequences and forget everything that the catholic church taught. When it came to you, nothing else mattered. “They think we’re monsters Gabriel.” 

You felt so tiny next to him as he presses his lips to the bridge of your nose before rolling his forehead onto your’s. “We know what the real monsters are (y/n). We don’t even begin to compare.” 

In such an act of betrayal your eyes fill up with tears as you fought so hard to keep them out of your brother’s sight. “Sometimes I think we are. It’s not right. You know that. This. . . This. . .” 

“Say it.” Gabriel orders you rather harshly. “Say what it is. Say what it is that we feel for one another.” 

Your throat swelled up as you bit down on your lip and turn your face away from him. “Is it even love?” 

A low growl drags through his vocal chords as his grip on you tightens a margin. “You know it is.” 

“How can it be though when everyone else claims it to be a sin?” Curling up in a tight ball with the hopes of vanishing you mumble “Even the demons we hunt may think us sinful as well.” 

“Do you believe any of the words that you just said?” 

In all honesty you did but it didn’t change the fact that you loved your brother so dearly. You loved him more than any woman should love a man. You would go to hell for him. You would fight as many monsters as you needed to for Gabriel. You possibly would even die for him. All of this Gabriel easily read in your eyes. 

He softens up at how melancholy you were. “I know what we have is inconvenient. But I don’t believe it makes us monsters. Flawed perhaps, but not monsters. Because loving someone shouldn’t make anyone a monster. We see enough ugliness in the world as it is. Don’t we deserve at least this little bit of happiness? Don’t I treat you just as well as any other man does with the woman he loves?” 

Wiping away your tears you sit up. “You treat me far better than any man could ever.” You couldn’t imagine any other man treating you as Gabriel did. He worshipped every step you took and every breath that left your lips. 

The two of you joined together in a mournful kiss. The cardinals could give you nasty looks all you like. This was the least they could give you for ridding the world of monsters. You knew what made a monster and your love wasn’t one of them.


End file.
